Throughout his first two seasons at Manchester United, Jose Mourinho has regularly faced criticism for being too defensive. Although it's an issue that's dogged him throughout his career, it's arguably only been problematic at two clubs, Real Madrid and Manchester United, whose supporters believe their club boasts a proud tradition of playing attack-minded football.

At Porto, Chelsea and Inter, Mourinho often played defensive football without much dissent from fans largely because he led them...

ESPN FC's Craig Burley compares Arsenal's consecutive 3-0 defeats at the hands of Manchester City to a couple of friendly matches.

When looking at the fixture list in August, this weekend's clash between Manchester City and Chelsea -- the title favourites against the title holders -- appeared crucial in determining the destination of the Premier League trophy.

Instead, it's anything but a six-pointer: City are way out in front, while Chelsea are merely chasing Champions League qualification after a wretched couple of months. But also in the sights of Pep Guardiola's side is the Premier League all-time points record, the holders...

Former Chelsea midfielder Craig Burley assesses whether Antonio Conte will still be at the helm in mid-March by the end of their brutal run of upcoming fixtures.

It's been a peculiar and somewhat unusual week for Chelsea -- two good performances in tricky contests against Barcelona and Manchester United, but little to show for their efforts. Having opened the scoring in both matches, Antonio Conte's men will feel disappointed not to be taking a first-leg lead to the Nou Camp, and underwhelmed at being defeated 2-1 at Old Trafford.

It's rare to be speaking about Chelsea in these terms, because this is a club that has spent much of the last 15 years doing...

Steve Nicol explains why Manchester United's purchase of Alexis Sanchez could prove to be a conundrum for Jose Mourinho.

ESPN FC's Rob Dawson and Mark Ogden assess what Alexis Sanchez has to offer after sealing his move to Man United.

With the Alexis Sanchez and Henrikh Mkhitaryan swap confirmed, Craig Burley and Alexis Nunes break down the deal from both sides.

Despite their status as the world's richest club, confirmed in the most recent Deloitte figures, successful Manchester United sides throughout the Premier League era have rarely been based around multimillion-pound signings and genuine superstars.

In fact, when United have attempted to introduce recognised world-class players, they've often struggled to incorporate them into their tactical system. In 2001, for example, Juan Sebastian Veron was a British record signing, but Sir Alex Ferguson didn't...

The careers of many legendary footballers have been effectively defined by World Cup years: Think Pele, Diego Maradona, Ronaldo or Zinedine Zidane.

Theo Walcott has not attained the status of the aforementioned quartet, but Everton's new signing is another whose career has worked in this manner. The exception is that the 28-year-old never actually played a minute at the World Cup, yet the key watersheds in his career have nevertheless been 2006, 2010, 2014 and, now, 2018.

Craig Burley examines Manchester City's back line after their loss to Liverpool and weighs in on whether additions are needed in January.

Craig Burley examines Manchester City's back line after their loss to Liverpool and weighs in on whether additions are needed in January.

Former Liverpool defender Steve Nicol describes his wave of emotions and explains what Jurgen Klopp's side did right in their win over Man City.

We're 23 games into the 38-game Premier League season and Pep Guardiola's Manchester City have finally been defeated. Sunday's wild 4-3 defeat at Anfield was, in truth, a much tighter game than the scoreline suggests, the goals tally boosted by a couple of defensive errors and some excellent finishing.

Nevertheless, Liverpool's approach should be commended: they pressed in advanced positions to force those defensive errors at the start of the second half and City's upcoming opponents will consider...